


Tired

by Aarashi



Category: One Piece
Genre: Character Study, Exhaustion, Friendship, Frustration, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Nakamaship, Silence, Sleep, The Going Merry, pre-Water 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 15:11:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19793491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aarashi/pseuds/Aarashi
Summary: After Aokiji's attack, everyone is happy they are still alive, but they also know they have been totally defeated. Zoro is aware of that. Usopp does not know how to handle it.





	Tired

Looking at the calm that could be inspired in the coast, nobody would say that they had been about to die some hours before.

Zoro approached to the rail and took a look at the island.

“It seems like he really left. Everything is quiet here.”

Sanji had appeared in the deck.

“We escaped just because he let us escape,” Zoro replied, in a low voice. He straightened up and turned to the cook. “Any change inside?”

“Both of them are resting. Chopper said he’d stay awake, just in case. They should be fine.”

Zoro nodded.

“I’ll be in watch tonight,” Sanji added, heading towards the mast. “Go to sleep. It would be bad if something happened and both of us were exhausted.”

For once, Zoro agreed with him, so he just went down. When he entered in the men’s room and lay down in his hammock, he thought something was wrong. Then he realized he could not hear snoring, though it was pretty late. He looked at Usopp, but the latter was turning his back on him and the swordsman could not see his face. Zoro said nothing and closed his eyes. He did not fall asleep, though.

After some minutes, he heard Usopp moving.

“Do you really think what you told me?”

Zoro opened his eyes. Usopp’s voice did not have his usual tone of nervousness.

“Hum?”

He waited. Usopp took his time to answer.

“Before, when Chopper said that Luffy and Robin were fine... and I was just like…”

Usopp made a vague sound. Zoro thought it was quite an accurate way to describe how he had fallen apart.

“Do you really think I was just tired?”

Zoro turned his head towards Usopp, who was now staring at the ceiling. He remembered his miserable look, how he had mumbled “I was only able to scream and run.” It had been a very different view from his usual negativity.

“Because I don’t feel like if I sleep I’ll feel better.”

He really sounded miserable. Zoro sighed.

“I think you’re tired, yeah. We all are.” He rubbed his face with a hand and sighed again. “We’ve been through a lot these last days. In the end, we accumulate tension and sooner or later we fall apart. Kind of normal thing.”

“You never fall apart,” Usopp mumbled.

“And why are you comparing yourself, precisely now?”

Zoro saw how Usopp tightened his fists, but said nothing.

“This isn’t gonna fix,” Usopp mumbled in the end.

“Hum?”

“I felt relieved when everything ended, but what if we encounter him again? Or another strong guy?”

Zoro was starting to feel uncomfortable and he did not know exactly why. He usually ignored Usopp when he was in that mode, but now he could not. That was not one of his hysterical attacks and he had already realized it. This time it was more than that. Zoro tried to stay calm.

“Look. You’re not the only one who was no match for him. Neither Luffy, nor the cook or I could do anything.”

“Oh, thanks, I think I feel better now.”

Zoro clicked his tongue with impatient.

“Idiot, what I’m trying to say is that we all can improve. Thanks to what happened, we’ve realized that we are still not strong enough. That’s what you should keep in your mind and not all that bullshit about screaming and running. You’ve done far more than that since we know each other.”

Usopp looked truly surprised and Zoro felt a mix of calm and annoyance. He understood Usopp, at least until some point, because that feeling of frustration, that sensation of being so small before a huge enemy, was not new for him.

“Now, go to sleep already, or at least let me sleep in peace.”

Usopp mumbled something more that Zoro could not hear. The swordsman got comfortable in the hammock and closed his eyes.

Damn it, it still was too silent in there.

“Zoro? You awake?”

Zoro did not know how much time had passed. Probably an hour.

“No.”

“If somebody comes to kill us, you’ll protect me, right?”

Zoro opened an eye, trying to decide if he wanted to laugh, cry or just strangle Usopp.

“Right now, I’d tell them they can have you.”

“Whoa, you’re not serious!”

Finally, there he had it: nervous, fatalistic and indignant Usopp. Zoro yawned, which only angered Usopp even more.

“You’d do something, right? You’d cut them with your swords like you always do! And I’d be cheering for you! That’s the best team work!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Zoro mumbled, closing his eyes again. “Sure.”

Usopp added something unintelligible, but Zoro was slowly falling asleep. However, a part of him insisted on remaining awake, attentive to every single sound in the ship. Despite what the cook had told him before, he stayed in that point between the wakefulness and sleep. That was why he was able to hear Usopp some hours later, whispering to the ceiling:

“I’ll get stronger. So I can also protect you.”

Zoro smiled.

Finally he could fall asleep.


End file.
